The Hillier Hundred

Regular Flora Wonder Blog readers might think I hold stock in England's Hillier Nursery because I'm always mentioning: “According to Hillier blah blah blah.” Actually it's The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs (2019) that I use as a quick reference, probably even to the point of plagiarism, but since I always give my source I'm hopefully off the legal hook.

I have been to the Sir Harold Hillier Arboretum three times; my visits were all-day marathons where I dashed from tree to tree trying to guess the identity before I encountered a label. If I lived in England I would probably visit at least once a month...for the rest of my life. When Sir Harold's knighthood was announced in 1983, it was the first to be bestowed upon a British nurseryman since Sir Harry Veitch received the accolade over 80 years before.

A Hillier publication appeared in 1983 called The Hillier Hundred which celebrated 100 cultivars, subspecies or varieties “which have been raised, selected or named by Hillier's in a period spanning four generations.” The Celebratory list features Sir Harold and Lady Hillier on the cover and they certainly didn't pose in their work clothes. Strangely, the 100 plants featured begin at the front of a sales list, then more in the middle before finishing with Viburnum x hillier 'Winton' at the end.

Acer palmatum 'Heptalobum Lutescens'

The layout confused me at first, but all of the chosen 100 also appear in the regular sales catalogue. I grow a few of them but most I have never seen. Acer palmatum 'Heptalobum Lutescens' is the first item featured, and the catalogue states: “Selected before 1935 from a group of A. palmatum 'Heptalobum' seedlings raised at our old Chandlers Ford Nursery. Glossy green leaves turning clear butter-yellow in autumn.” I collected this cultivar at the beginning of my career but I discontinued production long ago because of little customer interest, probably because the cultivar name was too difficult for American nurserymen to grapple with. Nice maple though.

Acer 'Silver Vein'

Acer 'Silver Vein'

Acer 'Silver Vein' is described as a “hybrid between A. pensylvanicum and the rare A. laxiflorum made in 1959/60 at Chandlers Ford, and is perhaps the most spectacular “snake bark” maple. Large leaves turn yellow in autumn.” These days the laxiflorum parentage has been stricken from the record, and according to the Hillier Manual (2019) it is now A. davidii 'George Forrest' x A. pensylvanicum 'Erythrocladum'. I grow a few of the cross but for the most part my customers don't find it “spectacular” enough. We produce 'Silver Vein' either by rooted cuttings under mist in summer, or by grafting onto either A. davidii or A. tegmentosum in winter. My gripe is that either method produces a preponderance of dog-leg trunks, but we solve that by planting in clumps of three. Another complaint is that 'Silver Vein' should be hardy to USDA zone 5, but we get a number of split-bark trees when they are lined out in the field. Maybe we push them too fast with water, fertilizer and rich soil.

Betula 'Jermyns'

Betula 'Jermyns'

A start of Betula 'Jermyns' was sent to me about 25 years ago by a bonafide Englishman, in fact by a former Hillier employee. Back then the consequences of getting caught with ornamental contraband was minimal, and certainly no harm ever occurred. The birch was named for the area of the Hillier arboretum, as Jermyns Lane is the public road to the south of the garden. The birch was named in 1964, and was “selected from a batch of plants of B. jacquemontii from a Belgium nursery. Almost certainly a hybrid or form of B. utilis...” Well, I guess we are now to consider the specific classification of jacquemontii as a subspecies of B. utilis, which puts a whole lot more letters on a small plant label. Utilis is Latin meaning “useful,” and one use in its native western Himalayan range is that the paper-like bark was used in ancient times for writing Sanskrit scriptures and texts. 'Jermyns' is a great tree, but another where sales were never very strong, and I no longer have it in production.

Corylopsis willmottiae 'Spring Purple'

Corylopsis willmottiae 'Spring Purple'

Ellen Willmott

Corylopsis willmottiae 'Spring Purple' was “Raised before 1969. Generally obovate leaves, which follow the flowers... 'Spring Purple' is a selection with most attractive plum-purple new growths.” I have a dense, 8' bush which we annually prune to allow it to continue in its limited garden space. That's an essential part of gardening, isn't it?: space management, which I'll admit has never been one of my strengths. I wonder how much longer I'll be the one in charge, the Editor of the 'scape? E.H. “Chinese” Wilson discovered the species in 1900 during his first Chinese expedition and named it for Ellen Willmott, the renowned English female gardener, which is why the specific epithet ends in iae. The old practice of specificating for a woman has probably ended as no botanist/plant explorer these days would dare to be gender specific. In any case, Hillier et. al. now lump it under C. sinensis Willmott Group 'Spring Purple', but at least Ms. Ellen had over a century where she was honoured with the entire specific epithet. I doubt, however, that she would relish the notion of now being “grouped.”

Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyck Purple'

Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyck Gold'

Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyck Gold'

A couple of columnar European beech made the Hillier 100: Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyck Gold' and 'Dawyck Purple'. Both were raised in 1969 by JRP Van Hoey Smith of Arboretum Trompenburg in Rotterdam. “Plant Breeder Rights acquired by Hillier's who propagated a strictly limited number of 50 trees for introduction at the 1979 Chelsea Show. Now readily available and becoming extremely popular.” I don't know if other companies had “Rights,” or were supposed to have rights, but I have been propagating both cultivars since the early 1990s and have never paid a royalty to anyone. 'Dawyck' is a “tall columnar tree which originated at Dawyck in Scotland before 1850,” and The Hillier Manual (2019) speculates that 'D. Gold' was a seedling of 'Dawyck' that was probably pollinated by the yellow-leaved 'Zlatia'. For 'D. Purple': “A splendid, narrowly columnar tree with deep purple foliage. Originated at the same time as 'D. Gold' but in this case the pollen parent was a purple beech.” Fagus sylvatica, as a nursery product, was once described by a nurseryman larger than me – not the grower's physical size, but rather the size of his company – as “a crop where you either have too many, or too few, but never the right number.”

Pinus parviflora 'Adcock's Dwarf'

The first Pinus parviflora that I ever produced was 'Adcock's Dwarf', an irregular upright with tiny gray-green needles. At the time I had never heard of the Hillier institution, or that the pine was selected by their propagator and named for him (Graham Adcock). The Celebratory mentions: “A seedling raised in our Jermyns Lane Nursery in 1961 from a batch of P. parviflora seed from Japan.” I eventually discontinued with 'Adcock's Dwarf' due to its propensity to develop a needle crud and partially defoliate in April – you know, the month when nurserymen ship their product. Other P. parviflora cultivars can display the same problem (such as 'Atco goyo'), even though the candles eventually push and the tree recovers. Since there are scads of other P. parviflora dwarves that do not act up, it wasn't a difficult decision to drop 'Adcock's'. Perhaps in other climates the needles remain clear, I don't know, but I attributed the problem to our soggy springs, and that's why Pinus contorta 'Chief Joseph' gives us the same problem. Yes, western Oregon can be wet and dreary, but I don't suppose that southern England is any better. I remember keeping one sole specimen in the collection, and even though it was grafted (on P. strobus) at 2' high, it formed a round ball of 5' height and width that came down to the ground. When the late, aforementioned, JRP Van Hoey Smith saw my tree at 25 years of age – my tree, not him – he screwed up his Dutch face and pronounced that it was NOT 'Adcock's Dwarf'... “which is a very tiny dwarf – I will send you scionwood.” He did remember to send the scionwood, to correct me, but those propagules grew exactly as mine. I didn't bother to correct him as he was a world plant authority who walked across the ocean to get to America.

Pinus sylvestris 'Edwin Hillier'

Pinus sylvestris 'Edwin Hillier'

Another pine to make the top 100 is P. sylvestris 'Argentea' which was “Selected by Edwin Lawrence Hillier, 1920 [back when you could get away with a Latin name]. A beautiful form with silvery-blue-green leaves and reddish stems.” I received my start from the same English benefactor as the Betula 'Jermyns' and scions arrived with the cultivar name of 'Edwin Hillier' so I assume they are the same. Perhaps the “reddish stems” description means something different to the English, but for me it was the trunk and branches that would colour orange and exfoliate, which is very ornamental. As the tree ages, however, the main trunk becomes less interesting and the orange appeal moves upward. I don't produce 'Edwin Hillier' anymore, again due to weak sales, and besides I was always fighting it with heavy stakes to grow straight, and I would severely prune the candles every spring to keep it compact and colorful. On my last visit to the Hillier Arboretum I spotted a bluish blob growing on the green lawn from 100 steps away. Could it perchance be 'Edwin Hillier'? Yes, it was, and I felt a slight connection with Sir Harold's father.

Prunus 'Spire'

Prunus 'Spire'

Prunus 'Spire'

Another making the H.H. is Prunus x hillieri which was “raised in our nurseries before 1928 and selected by Edwin Lawrence Hillier,” and described in spring as a “soft cloud,” then with gorgeous autumnal colour in “favourable seasons.” Regrettably the Hillier hype pamphlet does not list the parents of their Prunus hybrid so I had to go to the internet to read from Wiki that it is “the result of a cross between Prunus incisa (Fuji cherry) and Prunus sargentii (Hill cherry).”* Horticultural commerce didn't advance much with the hybrid itself, but it certainly did with the x hillieri seedling named 'Spire', which is now readily available. 'Spire's' origin is revealed in the H.H. as “Raised in 1937. Leckford Estates reported to Sir Harold that one of a batch of P. x hillieri seedlings, bought from Hilliers, was making upright growth compared to the latter. This plant was propagated to become possibly the best small street tree raised this century.” Certainly in'spire'ing.

*In the 2019 Hillier Manual P. x hillieri is described as “A hybrid of P. sargentii. The other parent was possibly P. x yedoensis,” which is P. speciosa x P. subhirtella, the Yoshino cherry.

Sorbus 'Eastern Promise'

Sorbus 'Eastern promise'

Sorbus 'Embley'

Embley Park

Florence Nightingale

I grow two rowans at Flora Farm which are listed in the Hillier Hundred: Sorbus 'Eastern Promise' and Sorbus 'Embley'. The former was the “Result of crossing S. vilmorinii (seed parent) with S. Embley. Upright habit. Leaves turning purple, then flame in autumn. Heavy bunches of rose-pink fruits.” S. 'Embley' “Appears to be closely related to S. commixta...a superb street tree, leaves consistently glowing red in autumn. Named 1971.” The 'Embley' tree originated at Embley Park, Hampshire, which is near the Hillier Arboretum. It was the family home of Florence Nightingale, and where she claimed she had received her divine calling from God. I had no divine calling to plant the Sorbus at Flora Farm, but the deer are sure happy that I did.

Hursley House

Taxodium distichum 'Hursley Park'

Taxodium distichum 'Hursley Park' is “a dwarf dense bush which originated from a 'Witches' broom' (i.e. a 'mutation' of a very compact, much-branched habit) growing on a 24m high T. distichum at Hursley Park, Hampshire, in 1966. Scions were collected and grafted in that year.” The park is also near the Hillier Arboretum, and the site was once a medieval deer park. I don't recall the location of the above photo – maybe it was at the Hilliers as well.

It would be interesting to have an updated Hillier Hundred, not that the 1983 version didn't present worthy selections. As I said before I have no experience with the majority, and with some, such as Foeniculum vulgare and x Halimiocistus, I am totally in the dark. I wish I could have worked at Hillier Nurseries before I started my own, it would have been a great investment with my time. I fantasized during my last visit that old Harold would pop out from behind a tree and recount its “story,” for everything in the collection – just as in mine – has a history.

Edwin Hillier

Edwin Hillier established Hillier Nurseries in 1864 and eventually passed management to his two sons Edwin Lawrence (Sir Harold's father) and Arthur Richard Hillier. Harold joined the staff in 1921, and became a partner in 1932 and ran the nursery with his father and uncle from that time. Reminiscing, Harold wrote, “I remember the days when my father, my uncle and the staff worked from 6 AM to 6 PM, finishing at 4 PM on Saturdays, using hurricane lamps in the winter, early mornings and evenings...After high tea, my father would work in the office at the back of 95 High Street, returning home in time for bed at 11:30 PM.”

At Sir Harold Hillier's memorial service after his death in 1985, Lord Amberconway, President of the Royal Horticultural Society quoted the words on Christopher Wren's tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral when referring to Harold's Arboretum: “If you seek his memorial, look around you.”